Open Call for This Jewelry Is 100RMB. The 2023 VONMO 4th Contemporary Jewelry Exhibition

中文版 - Chinese version      

Artists are selflessly dedicated to the pursuit of spiritual freedom and artistic authenticity; engage in constant confrontation in order not to be assimilated and disarmed; keep sober and calm instead of being vulgar; give up part of their personal life for pure art… Most artists seem to always play a pathos role in society, keeping a distance from money and material things.

From my rather brief experience in art and as an independent curator, I have invested my energy and money far beyond my capacity, and its value is incalculable. In the face of the market, I often have difficulty in dealing with pricing and other money issues, not to mention the pricing of an artwork itself seldom conforms to market rules. This has always been a puzzle for me, especially when I’m presented with offers from artists…

The third exhibition highlighted a series of philosophical thoughts oriented by our souls and spiritual world, and this time I'm bringing everyone back to reality, confronting money head-on, and discussing issues about value. To face money and material possessions composedly is also what artists often need to face. Most of us have been taught to be act like a sage and therefore would flush with shame when talking about money, or evade it outright. After earning a living in the society for six or seven years, I gradually realized the bias of such an outlook on life, and that the so-called "artists' pure and lofty" attitude should not be used to face and measure the value of everything. And that bias has left me in a dilemma many times, torn between "pure art" and "a decent life"…

Therefore, as the title shows, the price of each artist' work in this exhibition is limited to 100 yuan (RMB). We want to see what kind of artworks would be transformed by money (market pricing) and what people's values are. We will solicit contributions from all over the world, and the panel of judges will select 100 interesting works and pay RMB100 to each artist the moment we receive the physical item of the shortlisted work, and from that moment on, this work will belong to the exhibition project. We will sell the works at the exhibition for 100 yuan each, and let's see what would happen at the exhibition.

Additional remarks (artists may not refer to this): Value is the meaning (function, attribute) perceived by our subjective consciousness concerning an objective thing, and the "Coase Theorem" proposed by Ronald Coase indicates the optimal disposal of objects, for example, from mining to processing of a diamond into jewelry, the diamond does not belong to anyone in these processes (such as jewelry creators like us), but ultimately to the high-end jewelry brands, collectors, as well as infatuated couples who believe that diamonds are a symbol of love. Therefore, the "100 RMB" pricing of the jewelry this time may refer to its cost, its value to the artist, or its value to organizer, or to the audience... As to how it would finally achieve its Pareto optimum—the optimal allocation of resources, none of us knows, maybe by organizer, maybe by the collectors, or maybe it would simply sink into oblivion.

Explanation of "RMB100": For the consumption level of the average Chinese, “RMB100” means that we can eat breakfast for 6-8 days, or 5 bowls of noodles (lunch for 5 days), or buy enough ingredients to cook for 4 days; On a happy occasion, “RMB100” is a most typical and affordable amount for a red packet; Also, “RMB100” can be donated to children and elderly people in remote areas to help them tide over difficulties and ring in the new year... Maybe it is only a hair off a bull's back to the rich, but even if they have lots of RMB100 banknotes in hand, they would not necessarily buy a single piece of our contemporary jewelry, as they'd still buy a lot of luxury goods to fill their wardrobe. At this point, our thoughts on money, value and art are provoked, and I think the pricing of “RMB100” for each jewelry item is ostensibly to talk about money, but it is actually a very good test for people's minds. We artists use the least material input to create a work of art, and this is a challenge, so please regard this proposition as a game and air your views freely. Meanwhile, artists are most welcome to challenge our exhibition rules or perceptions!


Key Dates:
Submission deadline: 10 June 2023
Finalists announced on: 15 July 2023
Exhibition date: October 2023

Submission Requirements:
1. Each artist' work is priced at RMB100 yuan, and the selected works will be purchased by VONMO Studio.
2. We only accept works created between 2022 and 2023.
3. There is no need to pay an entry fee or exhibition fee.
4. Each person should submit only one work.
5. Please download and fill in the application form, and send the images of the work together to the curator's email. （Email： FeliciaVonmo@gmail.com)
6. The works must be original. If plagiarism is found, the artist’s participation and exhibition qualification will be cancelled.
7. Where there are copyright disputes, it has nothing to do with the organizer. If the artist fails to solve the problem promptly, the organizer will cancel his/her exhibition qualification after seven days.

Notice to Finalists:
1. After receiving the notification of shortlisting, please carefully pack your work (in a way that it’s least likely to be damaged) and mail it to us as soon as possible.
2. The organizer reserves the following rights: to freely display the specially invited and selected works, to freely take photos of the works and publicly use the photos for free, to publicly use the author's personal information for free, to promote the exhibition at home and abroad, and to publicly publish the collections (portfolios) of works.
3. After we receive the work, the artist can choose one of two ways to receive payment: We use Paypal or bank account for transfer; Or, after the exhibition, we mail you RMB100 in cash together with the certificate and the exhibition album.
4. Shortlisted artists shall send their works to Vonmo Studio no later than Sep.15, 2023. Shortlisted artists will only have to pay for the postage of securely mailing their works to Vonmo, and no other costs will be incurred.
5. After the exhibition, Vonmo will properly post back the exhibition certificate and exhibition brochure.


*All timeline is for reference only, and the actual situation depends on the actual progress of the project. Any changes to the time involved in the cooperation process of exhibitors will be notified separately. The right to interpret related matters belongs to the organizer.


Publisher: Yusen Feng
Curator: Felicia Li
Sponsor: VONMO GALLERY
List of Review Committee (alphabetical order):
Catarina Silva (Portugal), Gigi Mariani (Italy), Maria Rosa Franzin (Italy), Ruudt Peters (Netherlands), Wang Kezhen (China), Zhao Yi (China).


About Vonmo (万木) Exhibition Projects:
After two years of preparations since 2014, Felicia Li, Director of Vonmo, and Yusen Feng officially established Vonmo(万木) Art Jewelry Studio in 2016. We are committed to pursuing the innovative direction of integration between contemporary art jewelry and traditional Chinese culture. Since 2019, we have curated Vonmo’s 1st Five-Year Plan, namely once a year and a new theme for each. We associate international artists to show jewelry works at home and abroad with the aim of creating a pure, equal, fair, diverse, and professional exchange platform for contemporary art jewelry.